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I suck at bargaining


jsharr

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11 hours ago, jsharr said:

Ryan and I recabled and tuned up his old flat bar bike. We offered it for sale and a friend came and looked at it for his son. When he asked how much I told him $75. I told him Ryan was going to use the money for his spending money at Philmont scout camp this summer. He bought the bike and paid Ryan $125.

I been good and bad and often confused.

I was in Egypt in 1999, on a high sand dune overlooking the Great Pyramids.  A bunch of vendors with trucks and tables were selling souvenirs.

One offered a really good shirt for $5 and I bought it.  My guide, an Egyptian, said, "Don't take the first price."

Days later the cruise I went on after 2 days around Cairo stopped in a town on the Nile and a kid. yelling in English about cheap tee shirts. took me to the seller. When the seller said "$5" I offered $3.  He got angry and asked me to leave the shop!

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When you are negotiating with a known party with whom you have other connections, you are not only dealing with money.  You are also dealing with reputational currency and good will.  Nice people don't want to be the jerk trying to take advantage of a friend for relatively small amounts of money.  Plus you also saved all the problems of having to sell the bike on a public marketplace.  Luckily the buyer was also dealing with some reputational currency and wanted to do the right thing.

Sounds like a very good negotiation in the situation.

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21 minutes ago, Kirby said:

When you are negotiating with a known party with whom you have other connections, you are not only dealing with money.  You are also dealing with reputational currency and good will.  Nice people don't want to be the jerk trying to take advantage of a friend for relatively small amounts of money.  Plus you also saved all the problems of having to sell the bike on a public marketplace.  Luckily the buyer was also dealing with some reputational currency and wanted to do the right thing.

Sounds like a very good negotiation in the situation.

I just invested in a set of Shimano brake and shifter cables and housing.

Ryan got to learn a new skill.

I wanted him to "earn" some spending money for summer camp as jobs are scarce right now.

It really was a win / win.  The bike was clean and well maintained.  They paid what they thought was a fair price.

 

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6 hours ago, donkpow said:

I can do it but I don't like it.

Usually I end up with, "Please, please, please ...."

I tend to just walk away, and if I am selling, wait for another buyer.  The ones I dislike, and I've only experienced this a few times, are the ones that come in and very quickly began to run down your product. This sometimes happens in the world of selling livestock. I just smile and think to myself, that there is no way in hell, I'll sell you anything. Always loved the look on their face, when I'd tell them that they might as well leave, as we were through doing business.

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3 hours ago, MickinMD said:

I been good and bad and often confused.

I was in Egypt in 1999, on a high sand dune overlooking the Great Pyramids.  A bunch of vendors with trucks and tables were selling souvenirs.

One offered a really good shirt for $5 and I bought it.  My guide, an Egyptian, said, "Don't take the first price."

Days later the cruise I went on after 2 days around Cairo stopped in a town on the Nile and a kid. yelling in English about cheap tee shirts. took me to the seller. When the seller said "$5" I offered $3.  He got angry and asked me to leave the shop!

When I was in China, the students took good care of me, and did most of the haggling. Other times they stood in the background and nodded their head yes or no, and then they would do the dirty work.

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I'm getting better at it. When I bought a roto tiller a while back, the guy had it advertised for 350.00, when I started looking it over he said he would take 325.00. I looked him square in the eye and declared, you advertised this for 350.00, I'm not paying a penny less. He looked properly chastised, and quietly pocketed the money.  

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10 hours ago, Further said:

I'm getting better at it. When I bought a roto tiller a while back, the guy had it advertised for 350.00, when I started looking it over he said he would take 325.00. I looked him square in the eye and declared, you advertised this for 350.00, I'm not paying a penny less. He looked properly chastised, and quietly pocketed the money.  

Well done!

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Sold his old mountain bike last night.  Another $100 in his Philmont Scout Camp Fund.  He did most of the work on the recable on this one as well.   Been lots of fun and he is learning the value of taking care of and maintaining his own things.

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On 5/31/2020 at 6:08 PM, jsharr said:

Ryan and I recabled and tuned up his old flat bar bike. We offered it for sale and a friend came and looked at it for his son. When he asked how much I told him $75. I told him Ryan was going to use the money for his spending money at Philmont scout camp this summer. He bought the bike and paid Ryan $125.

We saw that often with baseball fundraisers. It seems people have no qualms over paying for a crappy hot dog combo to support baseball.  Unfortunately we didn’t see the same support for softball.

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18 minutes ago, ChrisL said:

We saw that often with baseball fundraisers. It seems people have no qualms over paying for a crappy hot dog combo to support baseball.  Unfortunately we didn’t see the same support for softball.

I have never recabled a hot dog.

 

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